# Law of Total Variance

Remember the Law of Total Expectation (also called the Tower Property)? It states

$\mathbb{E}[Y] = \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y|X]].$

The proof is straightforward in the discrete case (use the definition to expand in terms of $$\mathbb{P}(Y=y|X=x)$$ and justify swapping the order of summation) and in the general (i.e. measure theoretic) case is an exercise in using the definition of conditional expectation as a Radon-Nikodym derivative and using measurability properties. The Wikipedia page has both proofs.

There’s a similar rule that allows you to decompose the variance of a random variable called the Law of Total Variance

$\text{Var}(Y) = \mathbb{E}[\text{Var}(Y|X)] + \text{Var}(\mathbb{E}[Y|X]).$

The proof relies on the Law of Total Expectation, the definition of conditional variance, and the fact that $$\text{Var}(Y) = \mathbb{E}[Y^2] + \mathbb{E}[Y]^2$$. Consider

$\text{Var}(Y) = \mathbb{E}[Y^2] - \mathbb{E}[Y]^2$

and applying the Law of Total Expectations to both terms yields

$= \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y^2|X]] - \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y|X]]^2$

adding and subtracting $$\mathbb{E}[Y|X]^2$$ yields

$= \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y^2|X] - \mathbb{E}[Y|X]^2 + \mathbb{E}[Y|X]^2] - \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y|X]]^2$

and noticing the definition of conditional variance

$= \mathbb{E}[\text{Var}(Y|X)] + \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y|X]^2] - \mathbb{E}[\mathbb{E}[Y|X]]^2$

and, finally, noticing the definition of the variance of a random variable (where the random variable of interest is $$\mathbb{E}[Y|X]$$) yields the Law of Total Variance

$= \mathbb{E}[\text{Var}(Y|X)] + \text{Var}(\mathbb{E}[Y|X]).$
Tags: probability proof
Published on August 25, 2020